1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image display method and an image display apparatus according to which sameness of at least one type of information can be ensured and misdiagnosis and/or alteration can be prevented. The information includes identification information including patient information and examination information, information on a series of images acquired by an intra-subject information acquiring apparatus such as a capsule endoscoper and diagnosis-report information which is formulated and updated based on the above-listed information.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, a swallowable capsule endoscope equipped with an imaging function and a radio communication function is proposed in a field of endoscope. Further, with the use of such a capsule endoscope, an intra-subject information acquiring system, which acquires images inside a subject, is being developed. After being swallowed by a subject from the mouth for an observation (examination), the capsule endoscope travels through body cavities, for example, internal organs such as a stomach and a small intestine following peristaltic movements thereof until naturally discharged from the subject. The capsule endoscope has a function of capturing images inside the body of the subject during the travel, for example, at intervals of 0.5 second.
During the travel inside the body of the subject, the capsule endoscope sequentially transmits images acquired through image-pickup to a receiver outside the subject via radio communication. The receiver has a radio communication function and a memory function, and sequentially stores the images transmitted from the capsule endoscope inside the body of the subject. The subject can move freely after swallowing the capsule endoscope until naturally discharging the same by carrying such a receiver. After the subject naturally discharges the capsule endoscope, a doctor or a nurse can make diagnosis of the subject by transferring the images stored in the memory of the receiver to an image display apparatus and displaying images of organs inside the body of the subject on the image display apparatus (see, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-19111).
Here, a series of images taken into the image display apparatus is stored together with patient information and examination information as case data. Further, a doctor formulates and adds a report to the case data. The report is updated as necessary.
Sometimes, however, the identification information such as the patient information and the examination information included in the case data is corrupted. Then, such corrupted patient information or the examination information can be recognized as information of a different patient or a different examination. The doctor may make diagnosis based on information of a different examination of a different patient, thereby making misdiagnosis.
Further, even when only a part of one image included in the case data is corrupted, the doctor may make diagnosis based on this single, corrupted image. Then, there is a possibility of misdiagnosis.
Still further, when the doctor uses a part of the series of images for formulating a diagnosis report, and a part of the image used in the diagnosis report is corrupted, the doctor may similarly make misdiagnosis. Still further, the diagnosis report itself can be altered.